Vision for the future

The President and Vice-Chancellor of The University of Manchester, Professor Alan Gilbert, is leading a bold and exciting plan - the Manchester 2015 Agenda, which aims to make The University of Manchester one of the top 25 universities in the world.

The merger of UMIST and The Victoria University of Manchester in October 2004 presented a unique opportunity to rethink the very idea of a modern university and formulate a blueprint for the future.

The plan identifies goals for all the University's principal activities:

• High international standing
• World-Class Research
• Exemplary knowledge and technology transfer
• Excellent teaching and learning
• The UK's most accessible research intensive institution
• Empowering Collegiality
• Efficient and effective management
• Internationally competitive resources
• Increasingly effective community service

The vision for the University's future is an ambitious one. Its realisation will demand energy and commitment and superb execution.

History and origins

History of the University

The University of Manchester has been created by bringing together The Victoria University of Manchester and UMIST, two of Britain's most distinguished universities, to create a powerful new force in British Higher Education.

Manchester has a long tradition of excellence in Higher Education. UMIST can trace its roots back to 1824 and the formation of the Manchester Mechanics' Institute, whilst The Victoria University of Manchester was founded as Owens College in 1851.

After 100 years of working together, these two great institutions are formally combining to form a single university, coming into being on 22 October 2004.

Twenty Nobel Prize winners have either studied or conducted some of their work here: Rutherford began his work on splitting the atom here and the world's first modern computer also came into being at The Victoria University of Manchester.

Former students of UMIST and The Victoria University of Manchester include Sir Terry Leahy, the Chief Executive of Tesco; TV newsreader Anna Ford; comedian Ben Elton; pioneer of flight Arthur Whitten-Brown; and novelist Anthony Burgess.

Origins

The University's history is closely linked to Manchester's emergence as the world's first industrial city.

Manchester businessmen and industrialists established the Mechanics' Institute to ensure their workers could learn the basic principles of science.

Similarly, John Owens, a Manchester textile merchant, bequeathed £96,942 in 1846 for the purpose of founding a college for the education of males on non-sectarian lines. Owens College was established and granted a Royal Charter in 1880 to become England's first civic university, The Victoria University of Manchester.

By 1905 the two institutions were a large and active force in the area with the Mechanics' Institute, the forerunner of the modern UMIST, forming a Faculty of Technology and working alongside The Victoria University of Manchester.

This relationship worked to the advantage of all, not least the many students who received a first class education and the employers who benefitted from the knowledge and skills imparted by the two institutions.

Although UMIST achieved independent university status in 1955, the two universities continued to work together, true to the vision of their pioneering industrialist founders, until they merged in October 2004.

Awards

Manchester named 'University of the Year'

The University of Manchester has secured the title of 'Higher Education Institution of the Year' at the Times Higher Awards 2005.

The title was awarded at the Times Higher Education Supplement's inaugural awards ceremony held at the Dorchester Hotel, London, on November 23.

The award was announced by Prime Minister Tony Blair who said: "Manchester has impressed the whole Higher Education sector by its successful merger last year with UMIST. But what particularly impressed the judges was how, under the leadership of its vice-chancellor Alan Gilbert, Manchester's vision for the future and determination to reinvigorate itself to become one of the top research universities in the world has enthused both staff and students."

The University of Manchester was shortlisted alongside the universities of Dundee, Leicester and Winchester.

The award was welcomed by President and Vice-Chancellor of The University of Manchester, Professor Alan Gilbert, who said: "This is a tribute to the efforts of all of Manchester's staff and students following what has been an exciting year.

"I am deeply grateful to all my colleagues for the skill, determination and vision they have shown in getting the University up and running following the merger of UMIST and the Victoria University of Manchester."

The title was awarded to the institution who 'through a particularly bold or innovative initiative, has advanced its reputation substantially in the course of the academic year.'

Professor Gilbert was presented with the award by Higher Education Minister Bill Rammell.

On the shoulders of giants

The University of Manchester has a rich academic heritage. Between them, the Victoria University of Manchester and UMIST can lay claim to more than 20 Nobel Prize winners.

The nuclear age was born in Manchester with Ernest Rutherford's pioneering research that led to the splitting of the atom.

The computer revolution started here in June 1948 when a machine built by Tom Kilburn and Sir Freddie Williams, known affectionately as "The Baby", ran its first stored programme.

It was here at the University that economist and logician WS Jevons formulated the principles of modern economics.

Lewis Namier and AJP Taylor are just two of the world-famous names to grace the University's distinguished Department of History.

It was at Jodrell Bank in Cheshire that a young Bernard Lovell built the world's largest steerable radio telescope just after the Second World War.

Great traditions have also flourished in theology, architecture, mathematics, music and law and many other areas.

The catalogue of virtuosity goes on and on. Today's University is built on the shoulders of some real academic giants.

World class research

The University of Manchester has an exceptional record of generating and sharing new ideas and innovations.

Many of the advances of the 20th century began at the University, such as the work by Rutherford leading to the splitting of the atom and the developments of the world's first modern computer in 1948.

Today, we are one of the world's top centres for biomedical research, leading the search for new treatments for life-threatening diseases. We are also at the forefront of new discoveries in science and engineering.

The University is also applying its expertise and knowledge to solving some of the major social, economic and environmental problems confronting mankind around the globe.

The University's total expenditure on research in 2003/2004 was £269.5 million.

The quality, breadth and volume of research activity is unparalleled in the UK as indicated in the results of the independent Research Assessment Exercise (RAE).

By 2015, The University of Manchester aims to hold a world-class leading research profile and be among the top 25 universities in the world.

Buddy you’re a boy make a big noise
Playin’ in the street gonna be a big man some day
You got mud on yo’ face
You big disgrace
Kickin’ your can all over the place

We will we will rock you
We will we will rock you

Buddy you’re a young man hard man
Shoutin’ in the street gonna take on the world some day
You got blood on yo’ face
You big disgrace
Wavin’ your banner all over the place

We will we will rock you
We will we will rock you

Buddy you’re an old man poor man
Pleadin’ with your eyes gonna make you some peace some day

You got mud on your face
You big disgrace
Somebody better put you back in your place